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Monday21 May 2012

Andy Pearson Freelance

Building

Stories by this contributor.

  • Special report: M&E on BIM

    20 April 2012

    Mott MacDonald has set itself a tough 2013 deadline for using BIM on all its projects, so it simulated a sports venue project to test out its skills

  • Special report: Building envelopes

    30 March 2012

    Upgrading a facade not only brings aesthetic benefits, it can help extend the building’s life and improve environmental performance. Here we look at facade systems that can be installed with minimal disturbance and, crucially, do not require a building to be vacated. Andy Pearson reports

  • Drivers of eco design

    Ecobuild

    What will drive sustainable construction in 2012? Early indications suggest that regulations, corporate responsibility and energy consumption will all play major roles - and that this could be the year that the gap between a building’s predicted and actual performance is scrutinized. Andy Pearson reports

  • Ecobuild 2012: Spotlights

    Ecobuild

    From solar powered transport to timber structures and the latest in urban design, Ecobuild is showcasing the very best in sustainability. So what’s taking centre stage this year? Andy Pearson reports

  • Geoengineering: Space age solutions

    Ecobuild

    Governments admit they have failed to reduce our co2 emissions, so now geoengineering could be our only option to counteract climate change. Andy Pearson explains how this could involve anything from covering deserts with reflective surfaces to putting a shield for the earth in space. Illustration by Philip Veall

  • Special report: Bringing in BIM

    16 December 2011

    It’s no longer a question of whether you should adopt BIM, but how. So what are firms doing to persuade employees and supply chains to embrace the technology and get suitable training? Andy Pearson reports

  • ESCOs: Off the grid

    30 September 2011

    As the pressure to achieve low-carbon developments intensifies, decentralised, privately-funded energy solutions are in increasingly high demand. Andy Pearson examines the rapidly expanding market for Energy Services Companies, or ESCos

  • M&E special report: Android smart home

    30 September 2011

    What would it mean to be able to control every electrical device in your home from your phone? Wireless home automation is nothing new, but Google hopes to bring it to the masses with its latest project. Andy Pearson glimpses the future

  • M&E special report: LED lighting at the National Gallery

    30 September 2011

    Displaying some of the most famous - and delicate - paintings in the world is a tricky business, particularly when you have to decide between quality of light and energy conservation. The National Gallery thinks it has found the answer: LEDs. Andy Pearson reports

  • Ecobuild: Five top trends

    25 February 2011

    In this week’s Ecobuild special, we take a look at five top trends to find out about at the show on 1-3 March. And there are some surprising suggestions to help you get more green

  • How Balfour Beatty drained its site using state-of-the-art 'blotting paper'

    19 Jan 11

    The contractor used 55,000 strips of permeable polyseter to enable work on a saturated site to start in months rather than years

  • Marathon effort: piling on the complex Glasgow sports arena site

    30 Sep 10

    How the team tackled difficult conditions on the site of the 2014 Commonwealth Games centrepiece

  • Essential guides: Building Regulations

    5 Jul 10

    Essential need-know facts about Parts A to P of the Building Regs

  • Essential guides: British Standards

    5 Jul 10

    A round-up of all the British Standards that are relevant to the construction industry

  • Essential guides: BREEAM, LEED, Green Star & Estidama

    5 Jul 10

    Key information about the four main environmental assessment methods for buildings

  • Dig in!

    Building Market Report - Transport

    Crossrail will offer a feast of work for UK construction, with the three main tunnelling contracts up for starters. Andy Pearson finds out exactly what these entail

  • The London Library: Speaking volumes

    19 March 2010

    The London Library has been extending in higgledy-piggledy fashion ever since it moved to its St James’s home in 1845. Now Haworth Tompkins has set out to rationalise its circulation so that readers may actually be able to find the books they’re looking for

  • Strange but true: sustainable air-conditioned greenhouse by Atelier Ten

    24 Feb 09

    First design two giant greenhouses for Singapore, then try to cool them – sustainably. Is this the construction equivalent of a Jamaican bobsleigh team?

  • Flick the switch

    19 May 06

    External lighting can transform projects and places - even turning a Birmingham car park into an urban artwork. Andy Pearson finds out more

  • Multiplex top favourite for 50-storey tower

    2004 issue 28

    Contractor Multiplex is tipped to build one of the tallest residential towers in Europe after winning the preconstruction services contract

  • A 300-year facelift

    2004 issue 27

    How's this for cosmetic surgery? The latest whispers in the round are that a certain landmark cathedral is getting a nip-and-tuck. But then, it is approaching a rather significant birthday …

  • Time machine

    2004 issue 26

    Completion dates in contracts are more wishful thinking than statement of fact. But what if you could predict the actual time it takes to construct buildings? We look at an aid that's supposed to transport clients and consultants into a more certain future.

  • The short straw

    2004 issue 25

    Changes to the way in which the government funds research and development means that construction now has to compete with the rest of UK industry for the DTI's money. The prospects are not good …

  • DTI axes dedicated research funding for construction

    2004 issue 25

    Industry leaders warn that knowledge will 'wither' after government ends Partners in Innovation programme

  • Stuck in the eighties?

    2004 issue 24

    Remember the decade that taste forgot? Dennis Lenard reckons that the construction industry never left it. We ask some key figures if the industry really is frozen in time

  • Government backs fire escape lifts for high-rises

    2004 issue 22

    The use of protected lifts to empty tall buildings could cut evacuation times by up to 40%

  • Remote control

    2004 issue 21

    Here's the tale of a struggling M&E firm that couldn't keep track of its nationwide force of mobile engineers and as a result found itself drowning in a sea of paper, none of which was legal tender. We found out how it solved its problems.

  • Experts speculate on cause of Paris airport roof collapse that killed four

    2004 issue 21

    For the first time, structural engineers suggest possible reasons for the collapse of part of the roof at Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle airport

  • Prefab

    T5 Supplement

    Here's where talk of templates becomes literal. We tell it like it is

  • Our 75 million new neighbours

    2004 issue 17

    I'd like to bid a nervous welcome to the new workers joining the European Union's labour force tomorrow.

  • Pressure testing the HBF

    2004 issue 15

    The Sustainable Buildings Task Group. It doesn't sound like a revolutionary cabal.

  • Toxic shock

    2004 issue 13

    A teeny little EU landfill directive that the government has overlooked now threatens to blow up in its face – and even destroy its vision of brownfield regeneration.

  • DLE to drop 'Everest' as it scales new heights

    2004 issue 12

    Top consultant to rebrand as part of switch to limited liability partnership status on 1 May

  • Building sewage systems face overhaul in Sars threat

    2004 issue 08

    Airborne viruses can spread through soil pipes – raising fears that they may be exploited by bio-terrorists

  • Workers tell of palace life in a 'destroyed and stinking' city

    2004 issue 08

    Sheffield painters and decorators describe bizarre job working in Saddam Hussein's former Basra home

  • Just the job

    2004 issue 08

    Richard Beasley is a Sheffield decorator working on pubs and cafes for the British army in Iraq. We spoke to him – on site at Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra – about night-time gunfire, daily temperatures and living in a tent in a former dictator's garden

  • Where grass will be greener

    2004 issue 03

    Last Friday, Wimbledon submitted designs for a brand new Centre Court. We report on the concertina roof that will revolutionise our televisual experience of the tennis championship by banishing the rain, extending the hours of play and, most importantly, keeping a lid on Sir Cliff

  • Where grass will be greener

    2004 issue 03

    Last Friday, Wimbledon submitted designs for a brand new Centre Court. We report on the concertina roof that will revolutionise our televisual experience of the tennis championship by banishing the rain, extending the hours of play and, most importantly, keeping a lid on Sir Cliff

  • The Longest day

    2004 issue 02

    The creation of Heathrow's £3.7bn Terminal 5 is a titanic daily feat of co-ordination, with a 7000-strong army of workers to be ferried, thousands of tonnes of material to be delivered and two raging rivers to be diverted. We observed a day in the remarkable life of Europe's biggest building site.

  • … and heave

    2003 issue 49

    Wembley Stadium's new arch will soon focus the pride of a football obsessed nation. But the construction team's pride depends on lifting 1650 tonnes without going to extra time and penalties, as we find out

  • Can Pay keep on climbing?

    2003 issue 45

    For the second year in a row, executive's pay packets have climbed, according to the 2003 Hays Montrose/Building executive salary guide. But, as we find out, there are signs that this trend may have peaked.

  • The Hawksmoor mystery

    2003 issue 44

    Julian Anderson has spent the past two years chronicling the restoration of Christ Church in Spitalfields, east London. Over the next eight pages, we show a selection of his photographs of the work in progress. What they do not reveal is the story behind the restoration.

  • Six simple steps to building an intercontinental transport hub in the centre of a capital city

    2003 issue 43

    We tell the story of how the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is arriving at St Pancras

  • Repeat after me: 'yes, I can run your project'

    2003 issue 41

    Take a look at these people … Do you recognise the one who'll best be able to manage your scheme? We investigate

  • CTRL project team to design St Pancras Thameslink fit-out

    2003 issue 41

    Appointment of Channel Tunnel Rail Link consortium clears up confusion over who will pay for station work.

  • Architect plans schoolhouses for teachers

    2003 issue 41

    Architect Hunter & Partners is implementing a groundbreaking plan to provide accommodation for teachers priced out of the South-east's housing market

  • The West is the best

    2003 issue 40

    We discover that if you're in the South-west, you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about

  • The great office meltdown has begun

    2003 issue 36

    After our first real taste of global warming this summer, experts are predicting that 70% of Britain's office buildings will be unusable by the summer of 2030. We find out just what this means for the construction industry

  • Global warming could make 70% of offices unusable

    2003 issue 35

    Experts warn that buildings without air-conditioning will not cope with climate change by the year 2030.

  • Consultants send work abroad

    2003 issue 35

    British consultants and design firms are following a trend set by the insurance and banking industries and outsourcing work to low-cost overseas operators

  • Good morning, Vietnam

    2003 issue 35

    Welcome to joined-up 24-hour working, whereby consultants going to bed in the UK can hand over work to those waking up on the other side of the globe. But does outsourcing really open up a world of possibilities?

  • When walls have ears

    2003 issue 35

    When housebuilders were told they would have to test the acoustic insulation of homes to prove they complied with tough new regulations, they were so worried they decided to radically change the way homes were built instead

  • Just the job

    2003 issue 34

    Fred Selolwane was born and grew up in Botswana, studied quantity surveying in England, then went back home to Africa to practice it. He tells Andy Pearson why

  • Dude, where are the waves?

    2003 issue 31

    QS David Weight has spent 10 years struggling to convince councils that his artificial reefs would make Britain the wave centre of Europe. Now it looks like he's about to get his big break. We paddled out to talk to him …

  • Not much to look forward to

    2003 issue 30

    Last year a Building/Hays Montrose survey found that more than half of the magazine's readers were worried about their pensions. And they were right to be concerned.

  • Tony Fitzpatrick dies in Californian cycle accident

    2003 issue 30

    Industry mourns 'sad, sad loss' after chairman of Arup's Americas division is hit by a lorry in San Francisco.

  • Why are we so fascinating?

    2003 issue 30

    Prime time slots are crowded with foppish designers, avuncular engineers, opinionated architects and diabolical builders. We find out what the attraction is, what the programmes are like, how they've changed the perception of building – and how you, too, can get your phizog on the box.

  • T5 - satisfying hell hounds, wrestling with serpents

    2003 issue 29

    At least, that's how the Heathrow team describe their battle to make a 15-year-old design work for a rapidly evolving industry.

  • M&E firms shun young workers

    2003 issue 27

    M&E contractors are refusing to take on teenage apprentices because they are forbidden to work as many hours as adults under employment regulations introduced in April

  • Prime time

    2003 issue 27

    The MoD's £1bn accommodation programme will create 45,000 bed spaces over the next 10 years. We look at the procurement of a key scheme, and finds out how technical fixes can make all the difference

  • Willmott Dixon launches green building package

    2003 issue 26

    Contractor joins architect White Design and window manufacturer Velux to offer energy-saving buildings.

  • The dark side of construction

    2003 issue 25

    Every two days, a construction worker commits suicide – which is higher figure than any other professional sector. We explore what lies behind this disturbing statistic.

  • The dark side of construction

    2003 issue 25

    Every two days, a construction worker commits suicide – which is higher figure than any other professional sector. We explore what lies behind this disturbing statistic.

  • Who's the new kid?

    Canary Wharf Supplement June 2003

    There's another tower taking shape near One Canada Square. It's a headquarters for Barclays and, for the construction team behind all the buildings on the estate, another chance to hone their skills

  • Tower of Babble

    2003 issue 23

    As the Swiss Re tower nears completion, the public is busy picking holes in the design and construction work. Building looks at how the erotic gherkin's dominant presence on the London skyline has inspired a wave of urban myths...

  • Now for the science bit …

    2003 issue 23

    This composite crane's eye view of Zaha Hadid's Wolfsburg Science Centre in Saxony shows that laying a floor has rarely been more complex

  • Space is money

    2003 issue 23

    A project can be analysed in terms of the fundamental units of space, time and money. And every project has a solution that uses the first to minimise the second and maximise the third. Here's how to find it

  • CIBSE chief: We face extinction

    2003 issue 19

    Building services engineering may cease to exist as a profession in 20 years' time because of technological advancements in the sector, CIBSE president Terry Wyatt has warned

  • Meet the beetle

    2003 issue 19

    It was Dutch practice Meyer en Van Schooten that came up with this astonishing insectoidal banking office in the heart of Amsterdam – possibly after spending the evening in one of the city’s many fine coffee houses...

  • Dances with penguins

    2003 issue 17

    Or, how an English contractor went west to build a visitor attraction and found itself immersed in the dangerous and fascinating world of marine wildlife.

  • Catch-55

    2003 issue 14

    The prospect of earning £55,000 a year at Heathrow Terminal 5 should prompt a stampede of skilled labourers to west London. But are they ready to live in a community of 4500 men, under constant surveillance, with the same security checks used in the Occupied Territories?

  • DTI: Wage inflation set to soar

    2003 issue 13

    Construction is facing rapid rises in its wage bill, according to a government report due to be released this week.

  • DTI: Construction wage inflation set to soar

    3 Apr 03

    Annual report on industry says that skills shortage will lead to huge wage hikes, leading to increased project costs and prices.

  • How Mr Jones built a working ecological revolution in his own backyard for a fraction of the usual cost, and so can you

    2003 issue 10

    Allan Jones, a humble official at Woking council, got hold of £250,000 and turned it into £2.7m by making the borough the most energy-efficient in the UK. But that isn't the main story. The really astonishing thing is what he's planning to do next.

  • Architectural manoeuvres on the Tyne

    2003 issue 09

    There is a new star on Gateshead's glittering design scene: a Foster-designed music centre. But with dedicated venues for classical and jazz butting up against each other, Laing O'Rourke had to box clever to stop the improv interfering with the Rimsky-Korsakov.

  • Architectural manoeuvres on the Tyne

    2003 issue 09

    There is a new star on Gateshead's glittering design scene: a Foster-designed music centre. But with dedicated venues for classical and jazz butting up against each other, Laing O'Rourke had to box clever to stop the improv interfering with the Rimsky-Korsakov.

  • Better yet

    2003 issue 07

    The Peabody Trust had a simple brief for Feilden Clegg Bradley: take the lessons learned from prefabrication at Murray Grove and Raines Dairy and do better. We find how the architect did just that

  • The secret diary of a redevelopment

    2003 issue 05

    Or, how the crack project team put together by developer CIT is setting about the top-to-bottom redevelopment of an entire block of London's West End – and is bringing it in for 83% of the benchmark cost.

  • Inside job

    2003 issue 02

    Demolishing the interior of a Victorian post office in Edinburgh while retaining its neo-renaissance facade was never going to be easy – particularly as the site is hemmed in by busy roads, a bridge and a railway station. We find out how it is being done.

  • Changes to the Building Regulations

    2003 issue 01

    Part A: StructuresConsultation on amending this section took place in 2001 and the part on disproportionate collapse has been rewritten. However, the events of 11 September have meant that this section has come under intense scrutiny, which has delayed the publication. Expect new guidance late in the year. Part B: Fire safetyThis document was revised last month to incorporate the European standards on materials testing and will come into effect in March 2003. Some materi

  • Get ready to answer your critics

    2003 issue 01

    We're in for a year of ecological activism – from an unlikely source

  • Towers of refuge

    2003 issue 01

    Redesigning for terrorism

  • First terror-proof tower in UK goes up at Canary Wharf

    2002 issue 49

    Barclays headquarters will contain panic rooms, anti bioterror air-conditioning and extra fire escapes.

  • How to cut paper (before it cuts you)

    2002 issue 49

    BuildOnline's net-based project collaboration tool is designed to eliminate paper drawings and slash administration costs. Andy Pearson meets the intrepid team in Gateshead that has been testing the system, and asks: did they resist the temptation to print?

  • Act of union

    2002 issue 48

    Creating an underground link between two of Edinburgh's most revered art galleries would be a challenge under any circumstances. But with one-third of the site tied up in political red tape and a big Monet exhibition looming, the £28m Playfair project has become the stuff of nightmares …

  • London will never look the same again

    2002 issue 46

    Thanks to the Swiss Re project team who worked out how to build this hugely clever, hugely complex building, kept to within a few days of the schedule and put the top 3 mm away from where they wanted it. Andy Pearson explains how they did it

  • Midnight express

    2002 issue 45

    Heathrow Airport is so busy that it could only spare a two-hour window in which to move a 330-tonne link-bridge two miles across runways and into its intended slot. Andy Pearson joined a night-time convoy with one question on its mind: will it fit?

  • Hewden may face £8m bill over Docklands crane deaths

    2002 issue 44

    High Court rules that hire firm rather than contractor was responsible for operation during fatal crane collapse.

  • Spotless enterprise

    2002 issue 40

    Is there life on Mars? Britain is sending a robotic spacecraft to find out. But the space experts' first challenge was to create a room so spotless, the craft could be built bacteria-free. Otherwise it might confuse Martian germs with the Milton Keynes variety … Andy Pearson boldly went to find out more

  • The artful dodger

    2002 issue 39

    Glenn Allison is planning a campaign to persuade the English public that they really do want to buy timber-frame houses, regardless of what they may have read about fire risks. Here he cleverly avoids telling us why …

  • The barrier method

    2002 issue 39

    The picturesque town of Bewdley made the headlines in 2000 after it suffered three floods in six weeks. The challenge was to stop it happening again, but every option was either impossible, could make things worse or would cost £470m. Except for one …

  • Module behaviour

    2002 issue 36

    Despite the tricky site, Raines Dairy in north London – Peabody Trust's follow-up to the acclaimed Murray Grove – is set to be the UK's largest ever prefabricated affordable housing scheme. Andy Pearson reports on the fully kitted-out modules and partnering contract that are all slotting together perfectly

  • Filth, dirt and poison

    2002 issue 35

    Removing toxins from soil has become one of the most vital and dynamic areas of modern construction. Here's a guide to the latest techniques on the market and an insight into how microbes are eliminating the poisons at a former colliery site in Yorkshire – by eating them.

  • Ruling it in

    Building Specifier August 2002

    Changes to four of the Building Regulations mean that internal envelopes must be built to tougher specifications. Andy Pearson offers a rundown of what specifiers need to do to stay on the right side of the rules

  • No yes-man

    2002 issue 32-33

    Although the new CIC chairman says he is happy to preach the gospel according to Sir John Egan, Turlogh O'Brien will also give you chapter and verse on where he thinks the great man went wrong. Andy Pearson found out more.

  • The likely lad

    2002 issue 31

    At just 30, Christopher Leslie is already the consummate politician. But how much does the man in charge of the Building Regulations actually know about construction? Andy Pearson finds out.

  • Cutting through the Bull

    2002 issue 31

    The Brummies are getting their city centre back. The infamous concrete mess that was Birmingham's Bullring, is no more. In its place, an accessible, pedestrian-friendly shoppers' paradise is emerging – and not a subway in sight.

  • Fire alarm

    2002 issue 28

    Almost 20 years after a devastating World in Action exposé, the timber frame industry is back under the microscope. This time, government-backed research has found that poor workmanship is exposing occupants of timber frame buildings to potentially fatal fire risks.

  • 20 ways to make tall buildings safer

    2002 issue 27

    This week, exactly 10 months after the collapse of the World Trade Centre, the Institution of Structural Engineers has published guidance that it hopes will mean a disaster of 11 September proportions will never happen again. Its recommendations on how to help buildings withstand a terrorist attack will affect existing buildings, as well as future designs, so what exactly are they?

  • Advertisement for myself

    2002 issue 22

    Geoffrey Reid Associates has turned its own offices into a shop window for the practice's marriage of sustainability and splendour

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